Blog titles. The final frontier. Or the first when you’re desperately scouring the internet for your next great idea.
Don’t worry if you’re coming up with blanks. We can’t all look up to the heavens and claim divine inspiration. And despite what you may have heard, most people struggle to come up with good blog titles. You’re not alone.
Want the good news? Creating catchy blog titles is easy. You just need a little help, which is exactly what we’re going to provide today.
The bad news? You’re going to have to read on.
Here’s how to write a catchy blog title:
Know your audience
Knowing your audience is the key to drumming up blog titles that grab attention. You want to use the same language, jargon, and terminology as your audience. This creates an instant connection and a genuine sense of rapport.
Here’s how to get to know your audience:
· Monitor comments and engagement
· Seek out habits
· Conduct surveys
· Get to know clients personally
· Conduct keyword research
· Look at statistics from reputable sources
· Create customer personas based on these data points
Solve a problem
Blog titles should sell your content. The best way to do that? Draw on what the most successful salespeople do – solve a problem.
This is known as solution selling. It’s one of the oldest sales techniques in the book, and it works a treat.
The best example of this in practice is a “how-to” blog title like the one you’re reading today. Another example is a listicle like “10 Tips for Waking Up Early”. People buy into help when they need it. Use this to your advantage.
Use emotional adjectives to describe the problem
Emotion drives everything we do. Think about it — emotions influence the decisions we make and the speed we make them. Blog titles that successfully pull on these emotions are among the most effective at pulling readers in.
You can use emotional adjectives as a simple trick for describing your reader’s problem. Just throw one or two into your title to give it a little colour.
Here are some examples:
· How to learn any language effortlessly
· How to bring balance to your hectic lifestyle
· 5 free photo editing tools that rival Photoshop
The adjectives in these blog titles (bolded) provide extra colour on the topic and create a nice emotional connection with the reader.
Keep blog titles short
There’s rarely a good excuse for blog titles to be longer than 12 words or 65 characters.
Here’s what a 12-word title looks like:
What is the best length for a title for blogs and articles?
Even that’s longer than it needs to be. Here’s a shorter alternative:
What is the best length for a blog post title?
Titles longer than 12 words run the risk of being skipped past. Why? Because most people can’t be bothered reading them. It’s as simple as that.
Keep things short and you’ll be ahead of most people. Keep things short and get to the point and you’ll be ahead of nearly everyone.
Use numbers and make them big
There’s something about listicles (list posts) that make us want to click, and the bigger the numbers, the more enticing they are. Why? Because people want value from their content and a higher number is more likely to provide it.
For example, you’re more likely to read “100 Ways to Grow Shopify Sales” than “5 Ways to Grow Shopify Sales”.
You can use this to your advantage. The next time you have 5 tips planned for a blog post, make it 10. If you have 10 planned, make it 15, and so on. Struggling for time? Then keep all the points in your list short and sweet.
Create urgency
Urgent situations push us to act quickly. With blog titles, this means clicking and reading.
You can give your blog titles urgency by introducing time to them. Words like ‘now’, ‘today’, ‘tonight’ and ‘late’ are good ways to do this.
Here are some examples:
· 10 Ways to Sleep Better > 10 Ways to Sleep Better TONIGHT
· How to Grow Your YouTube Subs > How to Grow your YouTube Subs Today
· Avoid These Blogging Mistakes > Avoid These Blogging Mistakes Before it’s Too Late
This simple trick could improve your click-through rate considerably.
Introduce fear
In the same way, we can create urgency with blog titles by introducing time, we can introduce fear to compel people into taking action.
Introducing fear to blog titles works because people are scared of losing out and doing things wrong.
Here are some examples:
· How Safe Is Your Business From [Threat]
· 10 Warning Signs Your [Topic] is at Risk
· Warning: Don’t Buy [Product] Until You Read This
Draw inspiration from others
It’s perfectly okay to look at what other people are publishing and using their ideas for inspiration. What works for them will probably work for you.
If you discover a blog with a great headline, make a note for your next piece. If you come across a great idea, do the same.
We learn best from other people’s success. There’s no shame in leaning on other people’s ideas. Ask physicists leaning on Einstein’s.
Use headline formulas
Headline formulas offer an easy way to come up with catchy blog titles. They’re easy to use and there’s a formula for every kind of article.
Here are some examples:
· Are You [Provocative Question]?
· Stop [Strong Command]
· What You Should Know About [Topic]
· Here’s What You Don’t Know About [Topic]
· How We Did [Desired Result] In [Timeframe]
· How to [Achieve a Desired Outcome]
· How to [Achieve a Desired Outcome] Without [Unpleasant Action]
· 10 Ways to [Desired Result]
· We Can Help You [Promise] By [Result]
· How to Survive Your First [Topic]
· Get Rid of [problem] Once and For All
· The [X] Best Ways to [Achieve a Desired Outcome]
· [Something] vs [Something]: Which is [Related Query]?
· The Unbelievably Easy Way To [Accomplish Something]
· The Step-by-Step Guide to [Achieving the Desired Outcome]
Still, struggling for ideas?
Our content experts can help you create blog posts that get seen and shared. Whether you’re looking for a content marketing partner or a copywriting service, we’re here to help. Book a meeting or contact us to get started.
